April 17: The new 3,000-metre runway of Bhairahawa-based Gautam Buddha International Airport will come into operation later this week starting from April 21.    
Until now, the airport has been operating the 1,500-metre runaway. Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Prem Bahadur Ale recently instructed the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) to operate the new runway at the earliest.    
The minister also instructed the authorities make arrangements to run the airport round-the-clock, informed CAAN director-general Pradeep Kumar Adhikari.    

Sources at CAAN informed that the new runway will be used for domestic flights in the first phase.
According to Adhikari, the airport will operate international flights from May 16, coinciding with the Buddha Jayanti festival. (With inputs from RSS)